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Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast

ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Toyota signs with Michigan athletics

Toyota signed a one-year deal with IMG College, establishing a sponsorship between the automaker and the University of Michigan. The deal spans the 2013-14 school year and involves radio and Internet promotions for Toyota during the school’s football, men’s basketball and hockey seasons.

MEMPHIS
Grizzlies add partners, menus

STANLEY
ENGLISH
FedEx Forum and the Memphis Grizzlies have new menu items and partnerships with several local restaurants and vendors. Kelly English (Restaurant Iris) joins FedEx Forum as the head chef of the Lexus Lounge. Memphis native Michael Stanley joins the arena as the new head chef of Levy Restaurants, bringing new menus to various concession stands. Also new to FedEx Forum is Sleddog’s, yogurt shop YoLo, The Popcorn Vault and Jet’s Pizza.

MIAMI
Carnival bars open at Heat arena

Three bars based on venues aboard Carnival Cruise Line ships are now open at AmericanAirlines Arena, according to a Miami Herald report. RedFrog Bar is new this season, while RedFrog Rum Bar and Bluelaguna Tequila Bar both opened late last season. Miami Heat owner Micky Arison is chairman of Carnival Corp.

NEW YORK
Mets, WOR-AM reach 5-year deal

The New York Mets reached a five-year partnership with WOR-AM, making the Clear Channel outlet the club’s flagship radio station. WOR will air Mets spring training, regular-season and playoff games as well as pregame and postgame shows.

Knicks cruising with Norwegian
Norwegian Cruise Line and the New York Knicks reached a new marketing partnership naming Norwegian the official cruise line of the team. Norwegian will be featured on the Knicks digital platforms and in-arena during the team’s home games at Madison Square Garden. The agreement includes Norwegian Cruise Line branding on outdoor marquees.

ORLANDO
City OKs Magic’s entertainment complex

By a unanimous 7-0 vote, the Orlando City Council approved a plan where SED Development — a sister company of the Orlando Magic — will pay the city $12.7 million for land across the street from the Amway Center to build a multipurpose entertainment complex. The land is home to the Orlando Police headquarters and a city-owned parking garage.

PHILADELPHIA
Sixers honor longtime equipment manager

The 76ers dedicated their locker room to Jeff Millman, a longtime equipment manager for the team who lost his battle with cancer last week. The Sixers also honored Millman, 67, with a video tribute that played before the team’s home opener. Former Sixers Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone and Bobby Jones were among the players who participated in the tribute.

PHOENIX
Suns sign JN Jewels

The Phoenix Suns reached a new marketing partnership with JN Jewels. The jeweler will play host to a variety of in-game activities, as well as an engagement ring sweepstakes where fans will have the opportunity to win a one-of-a-kind engagement ring.

Suns, Mercury add Ghost Armor
The Suns and Phoenix Mercury reached a new multiyear marketing partnership with Ghost Armor. Phoenix-based Ghost Armor provides protection for electronic devices. Fans can visit a Ghost Armor kiosk at US Airways Center to have protective covering installed on their electronic devices. Ghost Armor also will receive brand exposure on the 360-degree LED ring during games.

PORTLAND
Blazers roll out new app, free Wi-Fi

The Portland Trail Blazers have a new mobile app and free Wi-Fi at Moda Center. YinzCam Mobile Sports assisted the franchise in developing the mobile app. Features include a game tracker with up-to-date stats, in-game shot charts and heat maps for each team, and live in-game video available in the arena. The Wi-Fi network is provided by Aruba Networks.

SAN ANTONIO

Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green model San Antonio’s new camouflage uniforms.
Photo by: D. CLARKE EVANS, NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
Spurs don military-inspired threads
The San Antonio Spurs unveiled a military-inspired uniform in honor of the servicemen and women of the armed forces. The Spurs will debut the new uniforms when they host the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. The Spurs created the camouflage-patterned uniforms to honor and showcase the team’s pride in the city affectionately nicknamed Military City U.S.A.

TAMPA-ST. PETERSBURG
Lightning seeks best T-shirt design

The Tampa Bay Lightning is teaming up with Majestic Athletic to give fans the chance to create a Lightning T-shirt that will be sold in the official team store. The contest runs through Thursday. Entrants can submit their designs at www.tampabaylightning.com/shirtofthefan. A total of 5,000 T-shirts will be made of the winning entry.

Lightning adds new partners
The Lightning entered into new partnerships for the 2013-14 season with The Mosaic Co., Southern Ford Dealers, Corona, Lexus, World of Beer, Four Green Fields and Celebrity Cruises. The Lightning and these new partners are introducing branding ideas for the season that focus around in-arena presence, in-market activation and community initiatives.


      COAST TO COAST — BEYOND THE COASTS

PGA Tour starting

China circuit in 2014

 

   The PGA Tour continued its growth into Asia with the announcement of a new development circuit in China next year, according to multiple reports. PGA
Tour China will feature 12 events with fields, not restricted to Chinese players, expected to be between 120 and 156 players and purses around $200,000. Qualifying events will be played early next year, with details still being finalized.
    The new venture was launched by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, China Golf Association chief Zhang Xiaoning and China Olympic Sports Industry President Sun Liping at the WGC HSBC Champions event. The PGA Tour already owns and operates two tours outside the U.S. — PGA Tour LatinoAmérica and PGA Tour Canada.


MANCHESTER
ManU, Unilever align in Asia

Unilever and Manchester United reached a three-year regional partnership in Southeast Asia. The deal will see Unilever become the Premier League team’s official personal care and laundry partner in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

MELBOURNE
Mazda stays with AFL team

Mazda Australia extended its major sponsorship of Australian Football League side North Melbourne for another three years, according to a Paddock Talk report. At the end of the current agreement, Mazda will have been a major sponsor at the club for 18 years — a record for North Melbourne and one of the longest current sponsorships in the AFL.

PARIS
Teams to strike over 75% tax

French soccer clubs said that they will go ahead with plans to strike over a new 75 percent tax, according to a Reuters report. Representatives of the teams in France’s Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 announced that they would not play any of their scheduled games on the last weekend of November.

For more international news, visit www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/global.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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